Wanting Spirit: A Story of Geno
by Uberman5000
Summary: Years after the events of repairing the Star Road, Geno is a different spirit now, jaded about his sense of self after being so many other things in his time.
1. Disillusionment

Chapter One

Disillusionment

It's always the same here. It's always dark and it's always beautiful, the way that the deep blueness of space is just so sparked by the millions of stars that it's not so much brightened, more like accented. I'm floating gently home along this path here after a meeting I've had with my friend, ✚$&. I know that's hard to pronounce, but he doesn't really have a different name.

Looking down below, I could see the Star Road if I squint my eyes just right. It's a little obscured because of some tricks it plays with the light, but I can still see it. Ever since it was broken apart some years ago, it's been harder to operate. It was a lot easier to make use of it when it was whole, but now that it's seven pieces we've tried to stick back together, it's been rough going.

I've never actually been on Star Road; it's not a place where we're supposed to go. Star Road kind of takes care of itself; wishes ascend there when they're strong enough to express, the cosmic spiritual energies turn it into a shooting star, and it falls down. No one is allowed to interfere with it; it's an incredibly delicate operation.

From where I watch, it can barely be seen; a star-shaped dark form against the blue emptiness. Little dots of pure white light constantly appear floating over the top of it and then zip away in all different directions, to all different worlds.

So it's still working alright, but I can notice some irregularities with it. The occasional wish fizzles out or doesn't get thrown at the speed it should and just falls down, like it tripped. Not every wish is granted now, sometimes it's granted the wrong way, or it goes to the wrong person. This doesn't happen _too_ often and we're getting by pretty well, but it _has _made things harder.

Looking at the broken-up Road, I remember the day it shattered. The Star Road has many enemies, one being Smithy. Tensions between us and him were running hot, but we didn't expect him to do anything. Then, one ordinary day, this enormous sword plunged through our realm! Everyone was panicked as the sword continued to fall, causing intense damage, laughing evilly as it went, but none so much as when he hit the Star Road. It rests at the bottom of our realm, where it delivers wishes for many different worlds.

I was there when the sword went through. I looked on, horrified, stunned in disbelief that _anything_ could break the Star Road. But there it was. With a terrifying crunch, the Road was fractured. That one whole, single, heavenly fixture, so essential to many of the good things in this universe... it was destroyed right before my eyes.

It was back now, I guess, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't the same. When the pieces of the Road first fell, they were all this pale gold colour, but when I went down to look for them, they were all different colours; everything from blue to red to green. Only the last piece, the central piece, was still the same colour. I'm not sure why that happened, but when they broke and fell to all different places around the world, they forgot that they were all one thing. They became their own things, and now that they were all mended again, they're like seven things trying their best to work together, and that can never work as well as one entity.

I don't know, maybe they were... disagreeing? Did each one have their own... personality?

Not best to think about these things, I told myself. That was years ago, and it was business as usual. I went the rest of the way home.

"Home" might be a misnomer in this case; we all live floating up in the void of space and don't really have buildings or houses, but there are particular small areas that we stay at the most. I'm not sure if that makes it a "home" or not, but I do keep many of my keepsakes there.

Things don't usually go wrong with the Star Road itself, but every so often, wishes get messed up in some of the worlds we go to. They can usually be taken care of from up here, but every so often, it requires the hands-on touch. I tend to volunteer for those kinds of missions; I like having a body.

This has happened a couple of times before, and for every one, I've kept a little memento of it. I picked up one of them. It was the oldest one I had.

It was a model of an old tree with bright blue leaves and gold flowers. I possessed a dead tree in a very primitive world where no one knew that they could ask for wishes. I couldn't move, but it felt really good to be breathing air and feeling the sun. I was able to make the old tree grow blue leaves and bright gold blooms, which was a big hit. I didn't bother telling them my name, they just knew me as the "Sky Tree". These people would come to see this talking tree telling them about stars and wishes and all other sorts of things. They worshipped me as a god for a while, I think, though I kept trying to tell them that I served a higher authority. Eventually, they started making wishes, and the tree was consecrated as the local Star Hill. Feeling very good about this, I went home.

Setting that down, the next memento I had was a little stuffed cat with black and white spots. Reminiscing about this one, I remembered it being pretty exciting, if a bit sad. In one particular world, the only wishes were coming from one person. Pretty confused by this, I eventually found out it was a small boy who had a stuffed cat doll. Deciding to get to the bottom of this, I borrowed the form of the cat. I gotta say, when he saw me talk and move around, I've never seen anyone both shocked and thrilled at the same time.

I found out that the boy's name was Toby. I had told him my real name, !?, but he called me by the doll's name, "Spots". Toby was a slight lad, but I could feel a particular strength and gusto in him that rebelled against his size; I like that. Apparently the boy was wishing so hard and so long for just one thing that it backed up all the other wishes, so I gathered the best way to solve the problem was to help him.

His wish was to go to a place at the end of his world called the Charmed Fields, where local legend had it you could learn magic. He also heard that his mother was there, so all the better. So, fired up as we were, we went on an adventure! Toby and Spots, brave explorers!

I won't kid you, the journey was long and strange. I tried my best to keep up Toby's spirits; his frail body made adventuring difficult. We faced all kinds of wild enemies that also wanted to find the Charmed Fields, but we wouldn't let them stop us! We fought through 'em all, and I felt like I could see Toby grow up as we went.

Eventually, we found the Charmed Fields. We didn't find Toby's mother right away, but he pledged that he would keep searching the Fields; he loved it there. Wishes started to flow normally again from Toby's world, but that wasn't the goal I felt good about. Toby was so sad when I had to go back, and I suppose I was, too.

Setting down the little cat, the next thing was a tiny wooden doll with a stern face. He was dressed in a scruffy blue cape and cap, and had two ribbons of wood curling out from under the cap that looked like sprigs of hair. I remembered that his name was Geno.

This was my biggest adventure, no doubt. I took this form when the Star Road was broken, and the pieces of it had to be recovered. I could have gone a lot sooner, but there was so much panic after all this, we all pretty much wasted our time shouting at each other. It took time to hear what we had to do from the boss.

But maybe that was for the best. If I had gone sooner, maybe I wouldn't have been able to meet Mario.

We knew about him. Nearly all the wishes from his world were about him. Clearly he was a hero. Being a hero was never really my thing, but I think I wore it well...

This doll was a doll owned by some mushroom-headed kid named Gaz. He had four dolls, but this one looked the strongest; I mean, for heaven's sakes, it had _firepower!_ That form was really fun!

Best of all, I got to take it to the Smithy Gang. They've been a thorn in our side for ages, and this was the breaking point! We don't oppose anyone or try to make waves, all we do is grant wishes, and he had to destroy that!

But I shouldn't get so worked up about it.

This was the most bizarre assignment I had. I was a bundle of nerves, being so instrumental to fixing something so important and sacred, but I kept a cool head. A lot of Mario's friends looked up to me, actually, which was cool. We came across a lot of truly weird stuff before finally having a go at Smithy, but he was eventually destroyed. It was so sweet!

I was sad to go. I helped so many people, made so many friends, saw some amazing sights... but the mission was done.

With some dismay, I put the little wooden doll back down. I swore I could see his stern eyes twinkle for a second. The last model I didn't even pick up. It was a little figurine of a lamp.

That's right, one time I was a lamp in some guy's living room. He was making really strange wishes that kept coming up the Road, but refused to be granted. They persisted despite our best efforts, so I was sent down there. I wanted to take the form of this wolf figurine in his bedroom, but regrettably, I knew the lamp would make more sense.

It was the most bored I've been in, like, 15 million years. I eventually found out he kept wishing that his wife would come home, even though she was dead. He didn't know that, so the wishes kept getting sent up, but they couldn't be granted, for obvious reasons. Through some magic, I arranged things so that he would get the paper with her obituary in it. Eventually, he accepted it, and I finally got to get out of that stupid lamp.

That was my last figurine. That mission was years ago. I hadn't been down in any worlds since. Just been up here, drifting around.

I've been many in my time. We can't take the forms of anything living since we can't push out an already-existing life or consciousness that was already inside that form, so we can only take the forms of things empty and lifeless. Still, just because they were inert doesn't mean they weren't alive. I feel like I've kept more than a little model of each thing that I've been. Everything I was changed me, in a way. The Sky Tree taught me the value of knowledge, Spots taught me that the best wishes are the ones you fulfill yourself, Geno showed me what it was like to be a hero and to help people, and the lamp... taught me the value of keeping busy, I guess. When I'm home, I don't have a form. I'm not even that sure I'm anything...

I was quickly stunned out of my thoughts when I heard a voice behind me.

" !?!" the voice called. Looking behind me, I saw a small dot of pale, shimmering blue light drift towards me, the kind of pale blue you can only see in the stars.

"Hey, ✚$&," I replied, "didn't I just see you?"

"You did," he agreed, "but I just got some news that the boss wants to see you. Didn't you hear?"

The boss? Finally, some action!

"Really? Fantastic!" I yelped. "What for?"

"I certainly don't know," ✚$& replied, "you know how vague it is."

"Good point," I agreed, "I'd better go see what the news is!"

" !?, why does news from the higher authority get you so excited?" he asked, pretty suspicious. "Most of us don't look forward to this kind of thing."

The others found my enthusiasm a little off-putting, even more so because they knew I liked to take on forms. This made me more than a little annoyed.

"I like assignments, I guess," I tried to explain, "...it makes me feel important."

"...Important?" he said to himself, clearly confused, "Where did you pick up a word like that?"

I sighed. ✚$& had never taken a form before, I knew. It was like trying to explain red to a blind person.

"Whatever," I dismissed.

"You're a pretty odd character, !?," he told me, "manifesting so much has made you a little funny, I think. I mean, gracious, look at you! You've got a _shape!_"

A little surprised by that observation, I knew he was right. I was surprised when it happened; I knew that since we didn't have forms, we could pretty much look like anything we wanted, but the extent of that was maybe shining in a different way. It's not like I chose this shape, it had just... come to me.

I had taken the shape of a young man wearing a long, scruffy cape. My skin had this kind of wooden texture to it. Around my neck was a little collar with a little round bell on it. I still glowed that same bright blue like all the others, but it was more like I was a differently-shaped spot of light than them.

I took this shape after I returned home from my expedition as Geno; I was genuinely shocked to see it. I knew some other spirits had taken shapes of their own, but I never understood how or why.

"I don't mind telling you, !?," ✚$& went on, "it's not normal."

I glared at him.

"Normal?" I pried.

"You take forms down in other worlds so frequently," he advised, "it can't be healthy, being down there so often. Everyone thinks this kind of behaviour isn't becoming of a spirit. Most of the times you've gone there were quite unnecessary; they could have been taken care of up here."

"I don't think they could have," I reasoned, "they needed the hands-on approach to get done. Do you think we could have rebuilt the Star Road from way up here?"

"I'm sure if we weren't all panicking so much," he countered, "we could have thought of something. I recall you got too involved with the society down there; you joined a questing party, blast it all! People know who you are down there!"

✚$& floated right up to my face, whispering something discreet.

"Why," he hissed, "I hear they even write perverse fabrications about the form you took! They make it seem like you were a little too, erm, _involved_ with that cloud being you travelled with..."

Scowling, I brushed him away.

"Cut it out, ✚$&," I snapped, "you're just trying to scare me."

"Worlds aren't for our kind to be trifled with," he warned, "we're beyond worlds."

I crossed my arms smartly. I'm sure if ✚$& had eyebrows, he would have raised one of them.

"So what's 'our kind', then?" I asked. I didn't much like things described in vague terms.

"Irrelevant," he insisted, "we don't need to know these things."

He fluttered over to my models.

"I mean, look at all these," he remarked, "what are these? Containers. Transports. Temporary barracks to be pulled down after the mission is done. Why do you get so attached to this nonsense?"

My eyes widened.

"Nonsense?" I repeated.

"We're a higher form of existence," ✚$& said, "too high to worry about what we are. We're just here."

I sighed.

"How existential of you," I jabbed.

"Existentia-what?" he asked, baffled. I shook my head.

"I know what I think isn't common or popular," I said, "but it's what I've come to see. I liked the sensation of being something, ✚$&. When I'm here, I'm just an idea. An abstract. A premise. When I'm up here, I do nothing but think."

" !?, all this muddling about in so many forms has narrowed your perception," he responded, "petty grievances to lower forms of life. We're above life. We're force!"

"What you call narrowing," I snapped back, "I call definition. I like having a form; it's something I can look down at and know that it's me. You're just acting on good faith that you're you, ✚$&."

Suddenly, I got an idea. I walked past ✚$& and beckoned him to follow me. Hesitantly, he floated behind me.

Soon, we found ourselves near the Star Road, the wishes twinkling into existence and falling to their makers.

"Look down there," I told him.

"I know, isn't it beautiful?" he replied, "and we're a part of it. We're a part of this beauty. Isn't that enough for you, !??"

"Not the way I see it," I said back, "Those wishes... they're more physical than we are. They start out like us, just as a figment or an idea, but it _became_ something to go back down and fulfill its promise.

"And even as ideas, they have more substance than us. Think about how wishes usually start; 'I wish for', 'I want', 'I need', 'Please help me'... they're for people that want to help themselves, that want to help others, that want to help complete strangers... they're for things that are certain about what they are."

"Where are you going with this, !??" he asked, becoming impatient.

"We can't wish for anything, can't we, ✚$&?" I responded.

"What ever would we _need_ to wish for, !??" he said, "We need nothing."

"We had a wish once, that we didn't know was a wish," I explained, "and we had no idea how to grant it."

"..._We_ had a wish?" ✚$& asked, heavily doubtful. I nodded.

"When the Star Road was destroyed," I said, "we wanted it back. We wished for it to come back. Maybe I didn't know it at the time, but... that was the first time we ever had a wish.

"And I helped to grant it," I went on, "I and my group of friends that you'd have preferred me to brush off. I had to do it while stuck in a wooden doll, but I felt more powerful as that doll than I ever did up here, because I knew what I was, and that helped me do something not even the higher authority could do."

✚$& was silent.

"An identity is so important, ✚$&. I've had a lot in my time, and each one had its own limitations and abilities. When I'm like this, I'm maddeningly unclear. I'm a piece of sentient light. I try my best to recognize myself, but I don't know what that means.

"_That's_ why I want to be something. Or better yet... some_one_."

" !?..." he replied, pitifully.

"With all that said, though, the boss still has to see me," I said excitedly, "I'd better get this show on the road!"


	2. Service

Chapter Two

Service

I said goodbye to ✚$& and went on my way. Glimpsing behind me, I could see that he was still floating there, watching me go. It looked to me like he was a bit confused, staring at me like I has just sprouted pointy ears and a tail, and wondering why I didn't notice or care. I suppose I can't blame him, though; I guess I did seem that way to him. It worried me a bit to see him hovering there, staring at me. I couldn't help but think he felt distant from me, like I was in some far-off universe that he couldn't even conceive, even if I was just standing right next to him, talking to him. Watching me walk away, he must have been thinking I may as well have vanished into thin air, given the amount of sense I must have been making to him. He probably wasn't alone in those thoughts, either. Even if $& was pretty much one of my only friends, I would imagine that most any other spirit I might come across would have pretty much the same impressions of me, and the same isolating puzzlement about it. Even just to look at me, with my distinct shape, my curious face, my oddly particular personality... they would know I wasn't one of them.

Yet I was. I am. I know I am. I'm just less and less certain about what "one of them" really is.

This wasn't really worth thinking about anyway; the higher authority needed to speak to me, and it wasn't a good idea to keep it waiting.

If I could, I'd like to share some thoughts about the higher authority, or in particular, talking to it. It's quite a strange undertaking. It doesn't really inhabit anywhere, and there's no certain place we go to speak to it. In order to speak to it, we have to put ourselves in a state of mental stillness, so that we can hear it, and it can hear us. Sometimes this makes me think that the "higher authority" isn't really one spirit or thing at all; it might be something wi thin all us spirits that comes up into our minds and tells us what has to be done somewhere else in the universe if we just give it the chance to speak. We all serve this collective voice inside of us.

One way or another, though, it usually had to be pretty quiet and peaceful for us to hear the higher authority. There was one place that I liked to go when I had to speak with it. It was a wide plaza with this sort of round ridge in the centre that sprayed faint, flickering stardust into the air. We called this the Star Fountain. It was a quiet place. Not many Spirits come here, and the gentle, glimmering sound of the stardust gushing up into the heavens is soothing to me. I like to come here when I just need to put my mind at ease.

When I got there, I was pleased to see that it was deserted. smiling, I sat down on the edge of the fountain, and stared for a moment at the shimmering geyser of stardust flying upwards. It was a beautiful sight. Most things around here are, of course, but especially so when I can recognize them as something specific.

I sort of envy that.

After a bit, I turned my gaze away from the fountain and stared downwards, idly. I fel t a kind of drowzy numbness grow inside me, as I found myself reach a state of peace. The quieii and isoll'ltion around me began to creep inside me, all through me, became one with me.

In the midst of this calmness, a gentle voice spoke inside my mind. It didn't feel like it broke this powerf'ul silence around me; it felt like the kind of voice silence would have.

"%%!?" the voice said, "thank you for speaking with me."

"Higher Authority," I answered aloud, "I am your servant. I hear there is news?"

"There certainly is, !?," it said, with a kind of gladness, "there is a field mission that must be undertaken."

"A field mission?" I asked, trying my best to contain myself'. I heard the higher authority laugh.

"I can sense the excitement in you, %%!?," it joked. I should have known better than to think I could hide anything from it. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"True enough, I suppose," I replied coyly. "But back to the mission, if I may?"

"Naturally," the higher authority said, "it is a combat mission. A Star Hill has been beset by some kind of monster, and it poses a strong danger to the region. It must be dealt with so that the star hill will be made safe again."

I nodded.

"I see. My task is to defeat this monster and bring peace to the Hill?"

"Attempts to handle this creature from here have proven ineffectual," the higher authority explained, "so it will require personal contact to be resolved."

"It certainly seems that way," I agreed.

"This territory should be familiar to you," the higher authority went on, "which should be tactically useful."

"Familiar?" I asked. There was a pause.

"It's the star Hill of Mushroom Kingdom, sector SS-1996," it said, "you've embarked there before, if I recall?"

I sighed quietly.

"That was the mission where I was to gather the pieces of the star Road," I said, "'after smithy destroyed it."

"You sound addled. !?," the higher authority said, "are you troubled by something?"

I was silent for a long moment, then I shook my head.

"I don't have the luxury of being troubled," I dismissed, "I must be professional. It is our way."

"I can appreciate that," the higher authority said, "but I certainly wasn't born yesterday, !?. Something troubles you."

I cleared my throat, mainly just to occucy my voice for a moment.

"That mission was a powerful one for me, Higher Authority," I admitted, "and, on occasion, I'm admonished for taking an untraditional approach to it, both in its execution, and on what I did and thought while I was there."

"The Road was, successfully restored, though, was it not? You can't argue with results."

"If I may be so bold," I replied, "there is more to a mission than the results. The occurances during the mission are what have the most impact... I'm often criticized that I had joined a questing party to finish the task, rather than doing it on my own, in secret. They believed that I became too involved with the world down there."

"That is typically how we do things, yes," the higher authority agreed, "but be fair to yourself, !?, you quested with, _THE_Mario. Even we all know what an important figure he is. And, besides that, field missions are up to the agent's personal judgment. we can't have them impeded by regulations and decorum when wishes are at stake."

"True," I answered, "but even with all that, many of them think that my frequent field work has affected me personally... has changed me."

There was a long, tense silence. "How is that?" the authority asked.

"Well, I've taken a shape, as you know?" I said.

"You have," it agreed, "but that's not unheard of. Most spirits are shaped in certain ways when they mingle wi th the physical. Coming together with forms causes aspects of it to linger with us. The spiritual is strengthened and affected by the substantial."

"More than you may realize..." I hummed.

"What do you mean?" the authority quickly responded.

"Well, speaking of the form," I began, "one of the qualities of a form is that it knows what it is. It can look down and see itself, and know what it is."

"Do you not know what you are, !??" the authority asked, a note of concern rising in its invisible voice.

"I'm... not even certain if I do or not," I sighed, "I think what worries me is... if I'm not a form, I may as well be nothing."

Another tense silence.

"Continue..." the authority said, hesitantly.

"Well... when I took forms during field missions," I explained, "it made me feel as though I gained a view of myself. To be there, as a single thing that looked like something, sounded like something, felt like something... _was_ something. When I'm not in a form, I could be anything. sometimes I think I've adopted a shape like this as... kind of a..."

I had trouble finding the word. Nothing was coming.

"As a self-image?" the higher authority suggested.

"Exactly," I agreed, "the forms I took, what each one meant for me... they became reflected in my spirit. The forms I possessed help me exert who I was... what my spirit is."

"You still sound out of sorts," the Authority pointed out, "does having a shape not put you at ease? It's a rare privilege for this to happen."

"It really is, Higher Authority," I said, "but I don't think that's the whole picture for me. When I'm in a form, I feel... powerful. Like I can do so much more than I usually could. My strength and ability feels so much greater to me when I have a more full idea of what it is."

"So," the authority said, "it sounds to me like you feel more complete when you take a form. You possess a more feasible strength and usefulness when physical, which in turn gives you a greater affirmation of self."

"Many of my colleagues think that I'm delusional," I went on, "and that I really shouldn't long for this kind of thing. They keep telling me that it's beneath me."

"Above or beneath you is quite an irrelevant detail, !?," the authority told me, "this isn't exactly the sort of thing they can look down upon. We're not 'above' the worlds where the wishes come from. We don't hold a superiority over them because of our purpose. We're all part of the same thing."

"But Higher Authority," I asked, "what does that mean?"

"It means what you think isn't delusion," he assured me, "it's what you think. It sounds to me like it's the way you're trying to exert your own identity when you're not physical. Most of the spirits are content with vagueness; in a way. they identify with it."

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"I will say this, though," the authority continued, "...whatever physical forms you take, whatever things you may possess... they're inevitably not you. You're a spirit created unto itself, !?.

No physical body will feel suitable to you, because truth be

told, you're simply not physical."

"So whet should I do?" I asked, somewhat meekly.

"You're certainly not in the wrong to give thought to your identity, %%!?," the higher authority answered, "but I don't think these physical excursions are going to reveal much. It's going to be business as usual, and it should be a relatively brief mission. Where you are now is where you're meant to be, !?, thus you may be well to think about yourself in this way.

Give it some thought while you're down there, I think you'll see what I mean."

I sighed quietly.

"I will," I said, "thank you, as always, for your counsel."

"Glad to offer it," the higher authority replied. "Anyways, you do still have that mission to do, and it must be done in due course. You should depart immediately. As always, !?, I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you, Higher Authority," I answered.

Soon, the curious presence in the silence began to drift away, and I knew I was alone again, a curious emotiness inside me. I lingered there for a few minutes, letting the authority's advice stir through my mind a bit, before finally getting up from the fountain and heading on my way.


	3. Like Me

Chapter Three

Like Me

I ambled quickly along the starry path back to the Star Road, anxious to begin my mission and revisit my old stomping grounds, but a bit baffled by the higher authority's advice. I need to find identity where I am? What I am now is what I'm meant to be?

It at least emphasized with my issue more than anyone else and offered some clear advice, but l still wasn't sure what to make of it. I would at least give it some thought while I was down there, though.

The path to Star Road was pretty quiet, not many spirits were around. As I went along, though, one in particular caught my eye. He wasn't just a ball of light like most of the other spirits. He had a shape, like I did. He had the shape of a large wolf with bristly fur covered in these thin, long stripes that looked like a bunch of cuts all over his back.

I knew this spirit. He was a wonderfully seasoned spirit named ##?%, or, as he preferred to go by, "Jasper". He had only ever done two field missions compared to my four (or five, soon enough), but they were such incredible missions. They both had him down in the field for years, even centuries, the longest any spirit had been down there. This made him tough, and very wise.

He never told anyone what his missions were for, but he would regale me with amazing stories of survival, fierce combat, astounding sights, and tremendous achievement. Even if he was a shaped spirit, he was still revered and respected by everyone for what he had done. They even called him Jasper rather than his real name, which is usually unheard of!

He glanced over as he saw me walk near him. I glanced back.

"Geno, old buddy!" he called to me, "haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hey: Jasper!" I called back. He was one of the few spirits that called me by my 'world names'; he tended to go back and forth between Geno and Spots, depending on my mood and his. It made me think that we had a certain connection, which made me feel comforted.

We cleared out of the way of the other spirits so that we could talk.

"It's been a while, Jasper," I said, "what have you been keeping busy with?"

"The same old rigamarole," he answered, "being in touch with the forces of the universe, feeling the infinite coarse through me, the usual business.

"What about you?" he wondered, "You look pretty fired up at the moment; like a spirit's that's got somewhere to be."

"I do, actually!" I replied eagerly, "I'm on my way to go for a field mission!"

"Really! Fantastic, Genoi" he said. "You must let me walk with you on the way to the Road; you can tell me all about it. If it's not all hush-hush, of course."

"Not at all," I assured him, "it's not exactly delicate information. I'd be glad to have your company, Jasper."

"You're too kind, Geno," he said back. I smiled, and continued past him. He was soon striding briskly next to me.

"You look over the moon, so to sneak," he joked, "this must be a sizable task for you to do."

"You could say that," I said slyly, "I've got to take care of something down in Mushroom Kingdom SS-l996."

"That so!" he said, "one of your old haunts, if I remember. It's where you got that Geno moniker, wasn't it?"

"It was," I agreed, glimpsing down at him. He looked very amused, as much as a wolf's face could, at least.

"A monster's appeared on the Star Hill," I went on, "and I've got to clear it out. I was chosen because I know the lay of the land."

Jasper suddenly looked pretty smart.

"He's a bit late," he commented, "why wasn't he around your first time down?"

I laughed aloud. I remember that!

"Too right, I guess," I agreed. Jasper chuckled back.

As my own chuckles started to wind down, something else had occurred to me. l looked away from Jasper, glancing off into the middle distance.

"I was wondering if l could confide in you, Jasper," I asked, "something troubles me."

"You can ask me anything, Geno," he assured me, "1 love to help you."

I looked back at him. He had a wry expression.

"We've got a lot in common, you and me," I told him, "but in many ways, we're different."

Jasper blinked.

"In what ways?" he asked.

"Well, the way you call me 'Geno', the name I get while down below," I said, "it makes me think that you and l share a certain... sense of empathy."

"We do," he answered plainly, "we've both been in the field, and we've both taken shapes. We're saltier types, you and I."

I chuckled a bit.

"The thing is... I'm not sure what to make of it." I admitted. "Being down below so much, taking a shape... it makes me feel so extraordinarily different."

"Does this worry you?" asked Jasper.

"In some ways." I continued. "I mean, you're different too, but you seen to be able to take it in stride more, and the others seem more accepting of it; even impressed with it. They call you by your name you had down below, and they're amazed by what you had done!"

"And what is it like for you, Gene?" he asked. Every time he called me that, I felt the faintest glint of a grin form on my face. None actually came, though.

"I just feel separated," I sighed, "distant, alien, like I made no sense. They look at me, no idea why I am the way I am, why I think the way I think. To them, you're a hero, but I may as well be a talking doll that shoots lasers, for what it's worth to them."

Jasper grinned coyly at me.

"You're dancing around something, I can tell," he said, "when have you ever got so hung up about what others thought of you? You've always been a 'big picture' kind of spirit."

I chuckled.

'You know me too well, Jasper," I commented. He laughed back.

"So what's bothering you for real, then?" he pressed.

"The big picture, I guess," I replied, "...my big picture, really."

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, look at you," I pointed out, "you've got a pretty solid idea about yourself, enough so that everyone else accepts it, too. What you went through down there, what you did for us... it really must have made you able to find yourself."

"What L did?" he yelped. "Sure, it was pretty trying, but you rebuilt the Star Road! You saved us all! That's as big a deal as it gets, and everyone knows it!"

I would have been blushing.

"There's that," I agreed, "but no one thinks much of it. You're seen as a hero, and the most I get out of what I did is I get lambasted for not doing it in secret. Why is that?"

"Maybe no one understood it," Jasper suggested, "I mean, what you did was pretty out of the realm, for starters. Star Road breaking apart and falling? I've seen some spirits that still don't think that really happened! And you've always been pretty unconventional, Geno; most anyone that's been in the field would have to be."

I smiled amusedly.

"But again, you seem like you're dancing," he accused, "why do you keep doing that?"

I giggled embarrassingly.

"Don't think that I get myself because everyone 'gets' me," he insisted, "there's a ton about myself that I don't know, no matter how much l think about it."

"I think that's kind of what I'm getting at," I suggested, "I 'get myself' better when I'm... well, when I'm down in the field."

"Really?" he asked, curiously.

"I thought someone else that's been down there would understand," I thought aloud, "someone that's been inside a body, in a world somewhere. I feel as though whenever I have a form, I become clearer, sharper, more... well, there."

Glimpsing over, I had noticed that Jasper had stopped and was looking at me, deeply entranced. I stopped next to him, and stared back.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, when I'm here," I went on, "I don't feel like much. I feel like just a ball of light, or a clump of thought, or a hit of energy. I feel so vague that way."

Jasper kept staring at me. He looked transfixed.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" he asked. "What did they have to say?"

"I had told ##$& about it, he thought that I was just being short-sighted," I answered, "and I had spoken to the Higher Authority about it. It sympathized with me, but it thinks my being down there won't reveal much."

"I've always had this... inkling," Jasper said softly, "this kind of nagging ever since I was down there. This sort of thing that grew deep inside me while I was there."

"Yeah?" I said, riveted to him.

"I thought it was just some kind of paranoia while I was down there, and it would go away when I'd return," he continued, "but when I did, it just got stronger, and I still didn't know much more about it. Much as it persisted, I just couldn't get head of what it was."

He looked straight at me, a knowing smile on his muzzle.

"I think you nailed it," he said. I smiled hack. He started to walk again, and I went hack to walking next to him.

"So what will you do about it?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure," he said coyly, "maybe you can tell me when you get back."

"Sure thing," I answered, with a little laugh.

Before long, we found ourselves at the end of the glowing path. The Star Road was not far below us. We could see the little points of light pop on then soar off into infinity.

"This is where we part ways, I guess," I said, staring wistfully at the Road.

"Yeah," Jasper agreed. "Hey, let me know how it went when you get back, alright?"

"Will do," I replied. "Thanks for seeing me off, Jasper."

"Anytime," he said, "good luck."

I nodded quickly to him, and looked hack over the Road, staring with intense focus at it, my destination clear in my mind.

I drifted off the path, gently, like so much nothing, towards the Road, the points of perfect light bursting out all around me as I hovered over the platform. I began to feel my shape evaporate into nothing as I became like the lights around me, the forthcoming wishes that were about to be sent to the far corners of creation. I felt the Star Road's enchanted energy charge up deep inside me, and then I was off, flung through the cosmos, hurtling heedlessly across the universe, the infinite stars, planets and everything else flying all around me in an intense, phantasmagorical blur.


	4. The Stone Man

Chapter Four

The Stone Man

After what felt like both an eternity and a split second, the blur of space began to resolve itself into a more still way, slowing down enough so that I could make out everything better. This meant that I was getting close.

Looking around, a particularly large celestial object caught my attention. A large, mostly blue planet with spots of green and brown land here and there, but one spot was what I was focused on, a large ring of green placed more or less in the middle.

The Mushroom Kingdom. I flew down towards it.

It was night when I began to break through the atmosphere, as Spirits like me don't do well in bright light, at least in non-physical form. I drifted down over these lands as I flew closer and closer. They were familiar, but even when I was this high up, they looked like they had changed, though I wasn't sure in what ways.

I wasn't certain how long it had been since I was last here, time doesn't seem to pass up at the Star Road. It felt like it must have been a long time, though. I wondered if I would ever get a chance to find out.

I zipped effortlessly over the land; passing by the old places I remember visiting, sitting dark and quiet in the night. I swung by Moleville Mountain, the big, white mountain rising out of the plains to the south, filled with mine shafts and entrances deep inside it. The small village around it seemed to have grown, if only slightly.

Near it was Booster Tower, still as odd a tower as it ever was. It was an absurd structure, made from deep red wood, and it seemed to widen at the top. I still have no idea how the thing stayed up. It had a huge black spire on the top that looked a bit like an upside-down bowling pin, and there wasn't a single window on the whole tower. I did spot a large balcony near the top, though; the balcony where Princess Toadstool was being held captive.

I could swear that I saw two people, or at least two people-like creatures, standing on the balcony's edge, looking at me. I didn't bother to take a closer look, though; I was almost at the Star Hill.

Star Hills are interesting things. Every world everywhere has at least one, if the world's inhabitants can make wishes and have dreams. It's almost always night there, and they're usually really different from the worlds they're in. Strange creatures appear there, rock formations on the hill look more like the craters of moons than anything that might be found on land... it's like a little niece of the celestial grew out of the earth, put there by the strength of the world's wishes.

It rose over the crest of Booster Hill, the pointed steeples of Marrymore Chapel stood out against it for a quick moment as I rushed overhead.

As I drew closer, strange things began to happen around me. The inky black sky seemed to change to a more indigo hue, and the stars hanging up in the sky glowed brighter as I neared the Hill. Being near it really made the environs take on a more heavenly character.

Soaring overhead, I saw that the Hill, tinted purple in the strange twilight, looked like a series of gentle bumps, pocked with craters from falling stars. Several familiar monsters roamed the Hill, from the cute and rodent-like Muku-Mukus to the Sackits that darted all about to the strange lizards and crystalline creatures, but I couldn't see the large beast that was terrorizing the Hill. What a pain, I would need to go and look for it.

As I headed for the foot of the Hill, I had to slow down, as this was my landing site. Somewhere around here, I'd have to find a form to take.

Unfortunately, the Hill's base was pretty deserted. There weren't any wooden dolls or stuffed animals or any other bric-a-brac that would work. I thought perhaps I would have to go into the nearest town and look there, maybe one of the little grooms off a wedding cake or something...

As I searched, though, I spotted something interesting: a pile of stones. That may not seem interesting in and of itself, but when I looked closer, the odd shapes of the rocks seemed to connect together to me. That one looked sort of like a foot, that one like an arm, that one could be a head...

This would work, I thought to myself. It would be a strong form, and pretty big. It would really pack a wallop.

I made my decision. I placed myself firmly over the pile of rocks, and began to swirl above it in a tight circle. As I picked up speed, a column of light appeared around me, stretching high up into the sky. Anyone happening to look this way from anywhere in the Kingdom could probably see it.

The bright pillar of light shone onto the rock pile, and it began to rise slowly off the ground. The random pile soon aligned itself into a more body-like arrangement, hovering in the light.

This was the moment. I felt myself come apart as I settled into this new form, like the whole of what I was was being rearranged and molded to fit into the body. My vision was filled with an impossible brightness as I descended down the column, into the body.

After the light faded, it had gone totally dark. Confused for a moment, I clued in that it was because my new eyes were closed, like they usually were the moment I took on a new shape. Opening my eyes, seeing the world with my feet on the ground, I felt great.

I looked over my new stone body, composed of rocks floating in place, held up by my force of will. I held out my stony, fingerless hands before me, looked down at my boulder-sized chest. I was pretty huge.

Experimentally, I took a step forward, only to lose my balance from the sudden weight shift. Relearning how to walk every time I went on a mission was always pretty trying, but it was fun to see and feel this new version of movement.

Gingerly, I stepped forward, my enormous body quivering with each step. Before long, I was getting the hang of it, and was soon walking briskly around the Hill. My excitement grew as I went along, and before I knew it, I hed broken off into a run, my giant feet shaking the ground beneath me. I rolled and tumbled across the ground, folding my rocky body around itself. I have to admit, I was pretty giddy.

After a bit, though, I noticed the first gateway that led deeper into the Hill, and remembered that I had a job to do. I moved towards it.

It was a large and bright green star-like protrusion sticking out of the ground, with a keyhole in it. Looking at it, it reminded me about the ways that Star Hills tend to break the laws of physics, partly for security, but mostly just from their general oddness.

These great stars were the only way to get around the hill, like they were the only thing that would 'let you in'. Looking past it, I saw nothing but deep bluish darkness, and dreaded to think what was within it. The gateways took you to the other parts of the hill, past the darkness that splits it apart. Next to the gateway was what looked like a small flower made of glass.

Reaching my hand out towards the flower, it suddenly sparked with bright yellow light. The keyhole in the star suddenly grew, making a strange, cosmic 'bwomp' sound as it opened up to me. Through the giant keyhole, the Hill stretched out before me. I walked into the gate, and with a 'whoo' noise, the opening disappeared behind me.

I was really on the Hill now. The only way back out was at the summit, and somewhere between here and there was a terrifying monster, wreaking havoc on the Hill and preventing the flow of wishes.

With that firmly in mind, I set on my way.

The wishes I heard had changed quite a bit from what I remembered, but I thought I could recognize their originators. I ran into a lot of people the last time I was here, and I felt like I might know the sort of things they would be wishing for in the future.

I tried not to think too much on it though, as it would be pure guesswork, and I might bring up memories of those who I miss and can't meet.

Most of the odd creatures that inhabit Star Hill didn't bother me, what with being a seven-foot walking pile of boulders, and the few that did were pretty easily dealt with with a quick Flash or Whirl.

I also found the large star Flowers that opened the gates that led further up the Hill. I walked up to one near the edge of the dark. As I tried to touch it its star-shaped bud suddenly erupted with light, and off in the distance, I heard the soft 'bwomp' sound. Peculiar ways to open the doors, I figured, but then again, whet's really peculiar to me?

I traipsed all across the Hill trying to find the monster, but so far, I hadn't been finding anything much more alarming than small lizards. I was beginning to think that I'd never run into it as I went into gate after gate after gate, heading closer and closer to the Hill's summit.

As I went up the Hill, listening to more and more wishes, one seemed especially odd to me. Each wish speaks in the voice that originally wished it, and this one seemed to be a young woman's voice, shrill with anger.

"I don't want to be queen!"

It must have been from Princess Toadstool, one of my old party members, but I never counted her as someone that would not want to be a queen. She always seemed so dedicated to her kingdom, even when saving it put her in such danger, as it was with Smithy. This wish seemed awfully selfish of her, if it really was hers...

I couldn't dwell on it, though. I was near the summit, and if the beast wasn't there, I would have to rethink my next move.

It was difficult to tell when I had reached the summit, since it looks so indistinct from the rest of the Hill, but wherever I had arrived, there was this deep, pervasive sound all around me. Everywhere else on the Hill was relatively silent, save for the occasional chitter of a Muku-Muku, but here on the summit, there was a gentle, constant noise all about. It was almost like... breathing.

I moved around cautiously across the summit trying to follow the sound to where it was coming from, but that didn't help much, as it seemed to be coming from everywhere. I tried to tread lightly, but when you're made from huge rocks, that's not really an easy thing to do.

One other thing that I noticed was that there didn't seem to be any creatures around here. The other parts of the Hill all had a healthy peppering of animals about them, Muku-Mukus popping their heads up out of craters, a Sackit darting out in front of you, or a Quartz drifting around, but here, there was nothing.

Something felt really unusual about that.

As I kept exploring, I eventually spotted something far off on a ridge. It was hard to see from this distance, it looked like, in silhouette, another bump in the Hill.

As I went closer, though, and I began to see more of it, I could see that it was a huge animal, lying down on its stomach. It was huge and reptilian, with giant, batlike wings folded on its back. It was most definitely a dragon. It was red as blood, its scales glistening like a fresh wound. Long, black spines ran all the way down its back and along its long tail and all the way up its long, thick neck to its enormous head. which had four frightening horns on it, two long and straight, streaking along to the back of its head, and two other horns on the side of its head, curled like ram's horns. Its four legs were huge as tree trunks, its four feet like their roots, each root tipped with a huge, horrible black claw.

I could see its body moving gently up and down with the rhythm of the ever-present sound, so it was obviously the creature's breathing. It was a slow rhythm, which led me to think it was asleep. Dispatching it might be easier than I thought. As I got up closer to it, though, and got a closer look at its face, I noticed a slender yellow eye was staring at me. It wasn't asleep, it was waiting.

When it saw me, I stepped back in shock, and continued to step back as the dragon stood to its full incredible height, raising its neck up to the sky and letting out a deafening roar, baring a mouthful of terrifying teeth.

I could see he wasn't going down without a fight. I stared up at the beast defiantly.

"Alright," I said, "let's go."


	5. Battling the Red Dragon

Chapter 5

Battling the Red Dragon

The dragon towered over me, its roar ripping the air apart. It spread its huge wings as it lowered its head to stare down right at me.

"Impressive," I teased. The dragon snorted at me, its hot breath kicking up a wind. I could see small spits of fire rising out of its nostrils.

"You don't belong here, monster," I said to it, "and if you won't leave this Star Hill, I'll have to make you."

The dragon seemed like he could understand me, as his mouth curled into something that resembled a sinister smile. He raised his front paw up in the air and took a huge swipe at me. I stepped quickly away and his claws dug into the ground, scattering rocks everywhere.

I hoped this form was agile. I charged up to the dragon and smacked it in the jaw, its head flying back in surprise. He quickly swung again, and I rolled out of the way behind him, where he tripped me with his tail. It certainly did smart.

It was kind of hard to right myself back up, but eventually I was up to face it again. He tried to kick me with one of his hind legs, and I twisted around behind him and hit him with a Flash to remind him not to try that again. He didn't look so much in pain as a bit annoyed by this attack, which was more than a little disconcerting.

He started to spin around wildly, trying to swat at me with his great paws, but I was too quick for him. The rocks that made up my form folded quickly around each other to skirt his hits, which I thought was a clever advantage. Eventually, though, he did manage to hit me, and I was thrown clear.

It took all my strength to hold myself together, literally. I landed quite a distance away, leaving a gash in the ground as I skidded away to a stop. I was going to break apart with a few more hits like that.

No more fooling around, I had to get him this time.

I climbed out of the crater, undeterred, and saw that the dragon was turned away for me. It wasn't very smart, it would seem. Relishing the opening, I fired a Whirl at him, and it went straight through him. He yowled with pain, and I couldn't help but pump my arm in celebration.

The dragon, though, turned back towards me, looking none too amused. He bared his giant wings to me and then thrust them down quickly, kicking up a huge wind, blowing me right out of the crater and almost off the Hill altogether.

Groaning, I looked up and saw the dragon up in the air, flapping his wings with huge 'whoosh' noises, staring right at me. It wanted to take this battle to the air.

I stepped up closer to it, defiant. It leered down at me as I came closer.

"You want to fight up there? So be it," I said, "I'll take you down!"

In response, the dragon took a deep breath, rearing its head back. I looked curiously at this; I wasn't sure what he was going to do.

Suddenly, he jabbed his head forward with his mouth open, and I could see a fireball fly out from deep inside his throat.

With a quick shout of fright, I leapt aside as the inferno shot past me, dissolving into the air a few feet away. It left the ground black and smouldering, plumes of smoke rising from the heated ground. Looking quickly upwards, I could see that the dragon was grinning smugly at me.

No way I was gonna take that. I reared back to hit him with a Blast, but just as I was about to fire it, huge streams of fire shot out of his nostrils like a pair of flamethrowers, and I had to dodge them again.

He flapped his wings harder and started to fly around in the air, soaring low over the Hill. I tried to chase alongside him, trying to hit it with a Blast, but it had started to shoot big spits of fire at me out of its mouth, raining down on me. I was straining to stay ahead of them, trying to blast it with a few Beams and Whirls, but that wasn't doing much to weaken it. I had to find an opportunity to weave away so that I could charge up a Blast to hit it with.

I was so focused on trying to avoid getting fried, I hadn't noticed that I was about to run out of Hill, and was going to run right off into the dark below in about half a second.

"WHOA!" I yelped, and suddenly turned and ran alongside the edge of the Hill. I saw the dragon fly right over me, off into the darkness. I stopped and watched it go, a red shadow against the indigo sky, and I could see that it was turning back around.

This gave me an idea. I stepped back from the edge of the Hill, and widened my stance as I saw the dragon rush toward me again.

He was flying in low, just like I had expected him to, and he was going to try and take me out head-on. The sound of his glide grew louder and louder as it drew closer, but I held my ground. With a tremendous roar, it lunged right at me.

As soon as he was about to hit, I jumped up, over his head, and landed on top of his neck.

I immediately lost my footing, though, and started to slide quickly down the beast's back along his spines, right between his huge wings, all the way down to his tail. The spines were incredibly hard, they chipped away at my rocky body as I slid down them. In a panic, I flipped myself over and wrapped myself around his spines, keeping myself from flying off.

I felt the dragon ascend quickly as my grip tightened around its spikes. Looking down, I could see it was circling high above the Hill. I couldn't look too long, though, because it started to swing its tail back and forth, trying to throw me off.

I couldn't stay here for very long before I'd be chucked into the sea, so I tried crawling up the dragon's back, wrapping my arms and legs around its huge, black spines. The strong wind was holding me back, but I kept climbing.

Soon, I had gotten up to the dragon's back, between its flapping wings. The space between them was really narrow, and if I came into contact with those enormous wings thundering up and down, I'd be dashed to pieces. I snuck up slowly between the wings, trying my best to shield myself from the ferocious wind, but soon, I was on the dragon's neck again. It didn't seem to notice me.

It was time to make my move. I lunged forward as fast as I could, up the dragon's neck. My chest brushed up against a few of the spines near his head, taking out huge chunks of it, but I was keeping myself together. I made it right up to it head. Glancing up at me, it balked in surprise.

"Hi," I said, and I wrapped myself tightly around his horns, forcing its head forward. It reared upwards and screamed, fire erupting desperately from its nostrils, but I managed to hang on.

It stopped circling the hill, and eventually it was flying straight ahead, too disoriented to circle. The night of Star Hill faded away to the dim orange glow of dawn, and below me, I could see us soaring quick over the Kingdom, the dragon still flailing its head wildly.

Looking ahead, I spotted an enormous brown volcano with a wide, yawning crater along its flat top, a thin plume of smoke rising from it.

"That seems like a better place for you," I said to the dragon. I placed my legs firmly against the base of its horns. This would take all my strength.

"Let me help you... move IN!"

With all the force I could summon, I kicked off the dragon's head, letting go of his horns and flipping off of his head. Yelping, it headed straight for the crater. Its chest slammed up against the edge of it and it was left clinging, groaning with pain and defeat. I flipped through the air and landed on the opposite side of the crater.

"So," I shouted at it, "you'll stay away from Star Hill now, won't you?"

The dragon made a grunt, and crawled out of the crater and down the side of the volcano, off to find a new home.

A job well done, I thought to myself, as I spotted the sun rising up over the east, onto a beautiful new day.


	6. Diversion

Chapter 5

Diversion

I didn't have much time to admire it, though, before a voice began to speak inside my mind. It was the voice of the Higher Authority.

"Well done, !," it said to me "the mission was completed impeccably."

"Thank you," I said aloud to the Authority.

"What was that, by the way?" the Higher Authority asked me.

"Some kind of dragon," I replied, "a big one, and very angry. I think I've dissuaded it from taking roost at Star Hill, though."

"Well done," the Authority said, "were you able to deal with it peacefully?"

"Not exactly..." I answered regrettably, "it was a real brute. The Hill's suffered extensive damage from the battle. Will I be required to clean it up?"

"That won't be necessary," it assured me, "the task is quite a bit beneath you, if you ask me. Someone else will be sent to take care of it."

"Alright," I said, "so what is left to do, then?"

"The mission is complete, !," it told me sternly, "it's time for you to return home."

I was suddenly very surprised and nervous.

"Now?" I asked. "But the sun's rising. Can it wait until nightfall?"

"There's time for you to get out into space, !," the Higher Authority said to me, "if you go immediately."

"...I can't stay for even a short while?" I asked, a bit dumbly, "I'd like to see how this world has been getting on since Smithy was defeated."

"It's getting along fine, !," the Authority said, "you mustn't be so sentimental. Dispossess your form now, please, you're running out of time."

I was silent for a long moment.

"...Yes, Higher Authority," I finally agreed. Slowly, I held up my arms, chipped and cracked from the battle.

Above me, a beam of light descended down upon my body, and I began to spin in place, faster and faster. After a few moments, my body began to rise slowly, and a bright light filled my eyes. I could feel myself being pulled away from my body, I could feel the ground fall beneath me, I could feel the weight dissolving into nothing.

I heard a loud series of tumbling sounds, which must have been my former form rolling down the volcano's slope, now just a pile of rocks again. The brightness in my vision (now that I had no eyes anymore) began to die down, and soon I saw the world again, as distant from me as any other. I saw the sun starting to rise off in the distance, and it was making me feel weak, dissolving my light into its own. I had to get out of here.

I shot off across the land, just about to ascend back through the atmosphere and into deep space, rocketing back to the Star Road. As I soared over the lands I once walked, though, I began to remember what I did in each one. There was Bean Valley, a rich green land covered in exotic plants and vines, the Shyaways tending the bizarre flora with loving care. Past it was Lands End, the sheer cliff that cut off that corner of the Kingdom. Climbing it, as I did with Mario, would have been like climbing over the world itself.

I so longed to see everywhere I had been, see how it had changed, but there was no time; I could already feel the sun starting to consume me, and it wouldn't be long before I wasn't even a point of light, and I wouldn't be able to move until the sun set, and the stars re-emerged.

I was determined to at least see something, though, and I thought about the Forest Maze, the first place that I went on my adventure. I wanted to see how it had changed from when I last walked it.

Keeping out of the sunrise, I skimmed down low below Rose Town. It was still much the same, the huge, carved wooden rose still the centrepiece of the town. A few of the houses were either larger or replaced or gone entirely, but it was still the same town I remember.

Zipping quickly past it, I spotted the Maze, a thick tangle of trees north of the town. I rushed into the forest.

It was an extraordinarily dense forest, so wild and vigorous that it was easy to get lost in here, hence its name. Many of the things that I remembered were still here, from the rich golden soil underfoot, to the tightly packed trees all around me, their trunks thick and their foliage even thicker, almost completely blocking the sky. Vines ran between the trees above me, tangling all about like thick ropes. Ferns and mushrooms grew all around the trees, save for the narrow, well-traveled paths between them, pocked here and there with hollow tree stumps that led to deep Wiggler burrows, which provided shortcuts throughout the wood.

I remembered what it was like to walk through here the first time, disoriented, my vision blurry from being unused to having eyes. I grew used to it, and snuck quickly through the underbrush to try and find the first agents of Smithy, and right the incredible wrong he had dealt us.

The sun was not nearly bright enough yet to illuminate the forest floor through the thick canopy, making it incredibly dark deep in the forest. It didn't matter to me much as I darted and weaved between the trees and vines, all through the forest, trying to see as much as I can before I had to rise back out of the sky.

As I continued onwards, I came across the most difficult part of the Forest Maze in the centre, where the paths branched off into all sorts of wild directions, and nearly every one led deep into the unknown. Amateur hikers have been irrevocably stumped by this feature, and sharper minds have taken advantage of it, hiding vast riches and important possessions deep inside its tangles. I was stumped when I came to this part as well, and it was the point where Mario caught up with me, before I knew who he was.

I zipped around the forest centre, looking around everywhere, I suddenly spotted something that made me stop dead.

Lying in one of the intersections was what looked like a young woman. Her hair was long and black, and it lay across her back like a silken sheet. She was dressed in what looked like a black jumpsuit with black gloves and boots, covering up most of her body. She was lying face-down, her arms and legs sprawled out around her, so I couldn't see her face. On her back was a large pack that seemed stuffed with supplies.

Curious, I drifted closer to her. As my own glow lit up her skin, I saw that it had a sickly tinge to it. It looked like she wasn't breathing. I would have guessed she had succumbed to poison. In her right hand was something that looked like a small dagger, suggesting she was probably poisoned by a monster that she couldn't fight off.

The poor thing, I thought to myself. What a pointless way to die. I couldn't help but wish there was some way I could help her.

And I couldn't help but keep thinking about it. For some reason, I just floated next to her, and these thoughts just refused to leave me. The thought that the sun was quickly rising and I'd be stuck when it came up seemed to be overwhelmed by these thought about how I wish there was something I could do.

I couldn't stand to see her there, face down on the ground, so undignified in her final moment. I knew that she was taken too soon by cruel coincidence. I wished that, whoever she was, I could make her get up and be alive again.

When I thought this, a deep, dark idea rose up from down inside me. I thought that, since she was dead, her conscience was probably gone by now, and inside her, she was empty. And I could fill that space...

But it was absurd to think about! Spirits can't possess anything living, they can't push out another presence! They need to take over non-living things, like objects and trinkets! Or dead things that never had a consciousness, like the withered husks of old, dead trees!

I wasn't satisfied in thinking this. I reasoned that, whatever consciousness was once inside this body, it was gone by now, and she was so recently dead by the looks of her, couldn't have been more than an hour. She could easily be brought back, live the life she should have had through me. And best of all...

No! I thought loudly to myself. No, I have to go back to the Star Road!

The thought formed anyway, unfazed by my denial. Best of all, this way I could have a permanent body, and stay here, and know who I am. This girl would become me, she would be what I look like, what I feel like, who I would be. I wouldn't just have to be a dispossessed thought or idea or force. I could have a life.

Think of it this way, I told myself, what would you be doing if you went back to the Road? Nothing at all. You'd be a piece of some big cosmic coincidence, the same as a million others, never changing, never growing. Knowing everything except yourself.

It all happened so fast after that. Before I could think any other way, I descended towards the body. There was no column of light; it didn't have to be prepared, it would already be perfect for me. I went into it, and I could feel myself spread all across her, growing to fit her like a puddle fits its hole in the ground. I could feel myself creeping into her blood vessels, into her muscles, into her mind, making it mine.

She would be alright. So would I.


End file.
